Mom and Daughter

Mom came out to see me in Paris! It was so much fun! I went to the airport and picked up my mom, and after dropping off our luggage, we headed to the Eiffel Tower to create mom-daughter pictures. We were pretty excited to be together in the City of Lights! Mom's favorites were the Park Monceau and the Latin Quarter - she couldn't get enough crepes! Other highlights were our hotel (NOT in La Defense, actually in a small suburb that we had to take a bus to every day), waiting for mom as she took 900 million pictures, learning to do self portraits together, and eating kabobs. Mom was on a French Onion Soup tour, and ate it at just about every restaurant. It was kind of funny. Luckily, she found some that she loved and we went back there to eat it again. Since it is Sharon Marie, she brought her curse with her and it was rainy and cold just about the whole time she was there. We bartered for an umbrealla. We both had a great time, and I was so excited to have mom come and visit me!!

Grandma

So my parents are visiting my grandmother in Florida this week, so I just wanted to say hi Grandma Asbury!! Wish you were here for the beautiful Springtime in Paris!!

Ha ha, You can't fool me!

Somewhere, Picasso is laughing at everyone, but not me. The world tries to tell me this is fine art. HA! I know better. Picasso pulled a fast one on the world and titled this 'Guitar'. He also has several other paintings which he has tricked the world into believing he did. But I know the truth. He gave his 3 year old a bucket of paint and some canvas. Oh Picasso, what a good one. I will never enjoy your artwork, but I shall always revere you as the greatest prankster the world has ever know. Oh Pablo. You crack me up.

I also wanted to do a quick shout-out to my Aunt because I recently stumbled upon this treasure.

Cramming it in

So we're getting down to the last 2 weeks in Paris, and basically it's time to soak everything in and do last minute details. So I went to the Luxembourg Gardens with Grant to have a little lunch picnic, complete with Amorino Gelato. Delicious, it's seriously soo good. I'd rate it better than Haagen Dazs, no small feat. It was a wonderful day, complete with little sailboats, some games of boules, bee tamers, and a bus adventure. I love adventures, and bus adventures are usually my favorite. Grant laughed at me a lot. I also wanted to soak in Notre Dame. Often overlooked by me because it is always so crowded and filled with annoying people. We braved it with some Pierre Herme pastries. I ate about half mine then gave the rest to a gypsie. Gyspsies are crazy. I like the back of Notre Dame. It's so intricate and nifty, as well as deserted. I also made my first trip out to the suburbs. I was shocked to find quaint houses with lawns and everything. For some reason I pictured everyone living in apartments like myself. I also discovered Dominos Pizza in France, I miss pizza. Oh, I also moved in with Jill this week. She's right outside of Paris (sad) but still close enough to say 'Paris' and be in zone 1. It's smack dab in the middle between The Arc de Triomphe and La Grand Arche. I really like it. My room is much more spacious, and I have beautiful windows. Not to mention it's actually the same street as the Champs Elysees, just the other side of the Arc. Prime real estate I tell you.
On Monday I went to the park and slept and read - ok mainly slept. It was a beautiful day! Sunny with almost no clouds. And so warm. I parked myself on the grass with a pastry and croissant. Then I did the momentous. After dinner, I conquered the Eiffel Tower. Many people say (Apparently) that while Hitler conquered Paris, he never conquered the Eiffel tower. So today, I beat Hitler. Weird intro to my adventure, but I am keeping it. We waited in line for about an hour, then hit the first floor, then another 30 minutes later arrived on top. It was so awesome. It was an incredible night, clear as a bell. You could see for miles, and I loved looking at the different shapes of all the buildings and streets, plus the searchlight is so much fun. I don't really know why, but it's fun. It just is. I spent quite a while up there. Long enough for it to sparkle... twice. In fact I took a little video which I am going to share with everyone now. The weird noise in the middle is me trying to reach out as far as possible to get a better view. haha

What a Week!

My oh my, I knew I would get kind of busy in Paris, but this week has been pretty crazy! To start off, I had a Religion final, devotional, a walk to Sacre Coeur where I found out you are not allowed to sleep on the grass until April 15, RANDOM. But I got a 3 scoop gelato cone then FHE on Monday, on Tuesday I gave my politics presentation - complete with field trip!, I had to purchase a new Navigo card (silly French), then I went on a picnic at the Eiffel tower and went up the Arc de Triomphe, followed by getting locked out of my apartment. Ha ha, the neighbors even came out to see what I was doing. I looked like a homeless person for a good 20 minutes before the door started working again. Wednesday was art class at the Rodin Museum and the France Lithuania World Cup Qualifier game, plus I had to buy a new phone (My last one got lost somewhere between Colmare and Strasbourg) and a France jersey (which I found at a VERY shady store), and then today my TEN page paper for politics was due, which required a trip to Franprix for some snacks, where the cashier asked me all about the game (Thank you Adam for those little tidbits of knowledge!!) I finally felt accepted by the French people. Whew, and all this during beautiful weather!! I kept my windows open all day and basked in the sun as I finished up my paper. My view of Sacre Coeur is being obstructed by all the leaves on the trees. Tomorrow I have my French Oral Interview and then am heading out to Versailles to row a boat and have a picnic in the gardens. I'm also crossing my fingers for a travel buddy in May, I guess we'll see soon enough. This last picture is really random, and wasn't even taken this week. But I stumbled upon it and laughed and thought I should share it with the world. This was the last time me and Brooke went to Versailles and were trying on tiaras in the gift shop. I love Brooke. Ha ha.